


the cold creeps in (the fire is coming)

by hawkguy (orphan_account)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcoholism, Child Abuse, Deaf Clint, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-20
Updated: 2014-01-20
Packaged: 2018-01-09 11:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1145577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/hawkguy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s starting to feel cold and you’re regretting wearing shorts today, since your knees are probably bruising. Your legs are sleeping like logs and you don’t know if you’d feel them even if Daddy hit them with his beer bottle like that one time. Barn was picking pieces out of your skin for hours. It wasn’t fun for either of you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the cold creeps in (the fire is coming)

Your name is Clint Barton or, when you’re home, Boy, and you’ve been kneeling in the corner for four hours.

It’s starting to feel cold and you’re regretting wearing shorts today, since your knees are probably bruising. Your legs are sleeping like logs and you don’t know if you’d feel them even if Daddy hit them with his beer bottle like that one time. Barn was picking pieces out of your skin for hours. It wasn’t fun for either of you.

You set the table and put Daddy’s bottle on the small table in front of the TV perfectly, along with the glass he never used but got angry if you forgot. It’s already set to his favorite channel, the news on four, and you’re not being seen or heard, which is the way he likes it. He never wanted a second son, and your mom begged him to keep the belt away from you, but you’ve been getting slammed since the day you were born for something or the other.

You tug at your ear because it’s starting to hurt again, and when the pain fades, you go back to staring at the opposite wall. Barn’s out at a friend’s tonight, having dinner and watching a movie. 

You wish Daddy would let you go out, but bad boys don’t get to go out and have friends. Bad boys kneel in the corner and aren’t seen or heard unless someone needs to let off some steam.

You try not to wonder what Tash and Bruce and Hank are doing as you shift your knees just slightly to relieve some of the pressure. He won’t notice if you don’t move too far, you reason, but there was the time he lashed the bottoms of your feet until they bled so bad that walking hurt the next day, just cause your feet weren’t right up against the wall.

Tash is probably at ballet or eating dinner, depending on what time it is. She always talks about her dance class, using fancy words to talk about the dance moves she's learning, and smirks at you when you purposely do them funny to make everyone laugh. She's real pretty, you think, so she's gotta be a good dancer. Mama used to be a real good dancer and she's pretty. And Tash doesn't have a bad boy to hold her down like Mama does.

Bruce is probably hiding like you, since your dads are drinking buddies, but he never has to hide as badly as you do. His daddy is mean often, but not as mean as yours. You think. Bruce's daddy hits him too and Bruce hits back. You never knew you could hit back. But Bruce's daddy is meaner to Bruce's mom than Bruce, but Daddy loves both you and Mama equally.

Hank and his grandma said they’d bake cookies for the class tomorrow, just cause, and you vaguely remember what cookies were like.

You’d spilled flour on the floor while making cookies with mama one day, and, when he noticed the dust on the floor, Daddy broke a mirror on one ear and shoved a shard of glass in the other to match. You never heard anything after that and you never really wanted cookies again.

Your knees are hurting more and more as time passes, and the knock on the door almost escapes you as you bravely try to ignore the rumbling of your stomach and stay upright. You didn’t get a lunch today cause Daddy said you didn’t deserve one, and after last night’s beating, you don’t think you could eat even if you got some. The knock sounds again, but you’re not allowed to answer the door, so you stay in your corner.

You’re kinda scared, since Daddy’s keys are gone and Barney’s little one too, so someone’s trying to get in. You know what to give someone if they try to take Daddy’s things, though. You give them you.

A man in blue kicks down the door and searches around the house until he finds you, eyes half open as you kneel in the corner, and picks you up, wrapping you in a warm, soft blanket. “Five year old Caucasian male. Found him inside the house.” He hands you off to a dark haired woman who reminds you a lot of your mom, and they bundle you into an ambulance before the people slowly gathering outside can see you.

Barn finds you at the hospital and swallows hard before he says the words that wreck you.

“Clint, Mama’s gone.”


End file.
